A/N: I would like to apologize for not updating. I uh… seem to be gaining apathy for this fic. But this is the second-to-last chapter, so why not just go ahead and get it over with?
I got a review for the last chapter that said chapter three was a tad boring (You know who you are. Grr.). I hope this chapter isn't as terrible, but keep in mind that I need it here to build up for the end.
Speaking of the end, I actually have no idea how I'm going to end the fic. Pretty pathetic, hmm? I had one idea, but then I realized it was too much of a paradox, but now I'm actually considering it. Either that, or I… do the other thing…
Keep in mind I love pathetic flames, so if I end up doing something you hate, use your n00b skills to make me burn like tap water.
When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.
"Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him --"who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him --that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!"
It was now 11:50 in the Titans Tower, and those that had chosen to stay up to watch a movie were now finished. The black veil that draped the night sky seemed to get blacker, and the darkness in the tower's living room went under the same effects. Two people were sitting in the dark room, talking faintly as they shifted around for the remote control in order to turn off the TV; these two people being Robin and Starfire.
"Here it is," said Robin, bending down towards the dark floor to pick up the object. "It must've fallen off the arm."
Starfire watched as her friend stood back up and placed the remote back on the sofa's arm. "Yes… It probably fell when Raven got up to get popcorn."
"Well, now that that's done, you can go to bed."
Starfire targeted her eyes to her friend's. "What? Are you not coming to bed as well?"
Robin smiled and shook his head. "Nah. I'm going to stay in here and update the archives. We've got those two bank robberies to put in there, and that attack by Cinderblock."
Starfire nodded and turned to leave. "Well… goodnight."
"Goodbye."
Starfire finished her short walk and turned around to face her friend once more. "What?" she asked, her eyes filled with curiosity.
Robin waved his hand from the left to the right. "Goodnight."
The Tamaranian smiled and turned to leave, leaving Robin alone in the darkness.
The Boy Wonder, now alone to himself, headed over to the tower's computer and turned it on. By clicking on a folder on the computer's desktop, Robin was able to open the Titans' archives, which held necessary information regarding the team. Each member had a profile, filled with their background, height, weight, and other personal information. For the sake of privacy, each Titan refused to look at a different profile than theirs and only opened the file regarding villains and foes. This was what Robin was doing now.
"Let's see…" said Robin to himself as he punched in various keys. "November 7: Bank robbery at Jump City Bank. Robbers breached the building through a northern window at three o'clock in the morning. One security guard injured. Robbers caught at twenty-five minutes past the hour with little hassle. Novem…"
Twelve loud and melodic rings echoed throughout the tower, cutting Robin off from his update. As he listened to the nonexistent thirteenth chime, he wondered how long it would take for the Titans to get used to it. He also couldn't help but wonder how many of them shared the same feeling as he did: fright.
"Nov… November 7: Bank robbery at Washington Mutual Bank. Robbers entered through the main entrance and pulled out pistols at five o'clock in the afternoon. None injured. Robbers caught at…"
A faint noise could be heard from behind him, and even though he could clearly hear what it sounded like, he couldn't think of a word to describe it. It could've been a swooshing noise, but at the same time, it sounded like a person screaming.
A person screaming because of pain…
"Is someone there?" asked Robin, a faint chill running down his body. He turned around in his chair to find the room completely empty. "Somebody?"
No response.
Robin, his chill now gone, turned back to the computer and continued to type.
"Robbers caught seventeen minutes later when…"
The swooshing scream was heard once again, and Robin turned around once more. Everything was in its rightful place, from furniture to magazines and books. However, he did not notice a tall, cloaked figure standing far from him. It was only when his eyes began to shift back to the computer's monitor did he notice the room's other occupant, and as soon as he did, the dreaded feeling of fear began to creep back into him.
"Who…?" he began, not able to find words to put a sentence together. "What…?"
Though it was extremely dark in the living room, the glow from the monitor gave Robin enough light to see that the figure wasn't facing him. Only it's back could be seen, which was covered with a blood-red cloak.
Standing up, Robin gritted his teeth together in annoyance, his dreaded fear now gone. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Tell me!"
The figure made no movements and gave no indication of having even heard the boy.
"Don't mock me!" shouted the youth, rage building up inside of him. "If you don't tell me, I'll wake the others, and I promise that won't be good for you at all!"
There was no verbal response from the being, but it did respond physically. It began to move until suddenly, Robin was staring into the eyes of a cold and corpse-like face.
Before Robin could even gasp in shock, pain began to enter his body from all sides. He had never felt such a feeling before; it was like every part of his body had a set of lungs and was slowly drowning. His stomach began to flip and spin and his legs gave out. He hit the floor with a thud, which only seemed to increase the pain. As he lay there, he felt something hot beginning to pour outside of him. With all strength he could muster, he lifted his head and looked down at his torso; blood was slowly coming out of every pore of his body, and shortly after this discovery, blood began to pour into his mouth between his yells of pain.
As he lay there on his back, his eyes staring at the ceiling above him, he couldn't help but realize that if he didn't get help soon, this would be his very end. Remembering what he had said to the stranger, he wondered how hard it would be to sound the tower's alarm. If he successfully did so, his friends would come to his aid, and there would be a chance that he would live.
However, his thoughts for short-lived, for Robin, hero of Jump City, was gone.
Seven short hours later, an alarm clock rang in a cozy room. Had this been any other morning, Starfire would have sat up in bed and turned the clock off. However, she wasn't in bed but on the floor, looking through a large and decrepit book. She was distracted, however, by the clock's electronic ring. Putting the book down, she slowly rose herself off the ground and carried herself to the clock. Pushing a button, she put it to rest, and silence once again filled the room.
I'm so tired… thought the Tamaranian to herself. As if on cue, a yawn escaped the girl's lips. Stretching, she wondered how sleep never came upon her, for it usually only took her fifteen minutes before she slipped into unconsciousness. Last night was different.
However, she spent no time dwelling on this, and within twenty minutes she had gotten herself dressed and ready for the day. It was a daily routine; she would get up (which she had no need to do today), brush her teeth, get dressed, and go downstairs.
Due to the fact that she did the following procedures everyday, she hardly had to use her mind in order to tell her body what to do. It had all become a natural process, and before too long, it was almost as if she were doing all of those actions while still asleep. As she was walking down one of the many hallways, however, she suddenly snapped out of her trance and began to wonder.
Where am I going? she thought, looking out of a window. It was a dark and gloomy day; gray clouds covered the entire sky, and the girl could see small patches of rain falling down on the bay.
It's almost as if something bad were going to happen…
Though no rain was falling directly over the tower, Starfire couldn't help but feel depressed. Storms had always had this effect on her, whether for good or for bad. Before she could even tell what was happening, streaks of water began to run down the window as rain found its way over the teens' home.
Snapping out of her second spell, Starfire continued to make her way to her unknown destination. As she neared the living room, she couldn't help but feel a desire to run back to her room. She suppressed the urge, thinking it was nothing, and opened the door.
A scream interrupted the stone-cold silence of the tower as lighting lit the sky.
Two days later, water continued to fall from the sky at the most inopportune time. On a hill outside of Jump City, hundreds of people were huddled together, trying their best to avoid the cold rain. As their black mass separated themselves from their surroundings, a solitary man in white was before them, separated from the crowd by a coffin covered with an American flag.
"And may he rest in peace…" said the man in white, laying his left hand on the casket's top. "May he know no happier place but the kingdom of our Father God."
"Amen," said the crowd of black in unison.
A brief moment of silence filled the air as the priest continued to study the coffin. "And now it's time to say goodbye."
The priest walked away, closing his Holy Book and his head down low. A young girl in front of the black crowd walked up to the coffin and rested her hand on the flag's soft surface. Another girl shortly joined her and rested a hand on the mourner's shoulder.
"Starfire…"
"How did he die, Raven? How?"
"I don't know… Nobody knows. The autopsy was undecided, remember?"
A solitary tear fell off of Starfire's face, diluting one of the flag's lines of blood. "I do know that it was undecided… but people do not just die, Raven. Something horrible happened to him. I know it." A gasp escaped her lips, and the empath only grew more concerned.
"Starfire? What is it?"
"I knew it… That's why I couldn't get to sleep that night! And that's why I felt so horrible as I was walking towards… that room. I knew it would happen, Raven! I knew it!"
"Starfire… You were just unnerved by the fact the tower was so quiet. You know how you get when it rains…"
"Is something wrong?"
The two girls turned around to see Cyborg and Beast Boy standing there.
"Nothing's wrong," said Raven, looking back at the coffin. "Starfire's just upset that Robin died."
"We're all upset…" said Beast Boy, crossing his arms in discomfort and looking back at the broken crowd. "Just look at how many people showed up…"
"Listen, Star," said Cyborg, trying his best to get the Tamaranian to take her eyes off of the flag. "It's been a hard day. Let's go home and get some rest, hmm?"
Starfire's eyes remained fixed on one of the emblems red stripes, her eyes tired from crying. "I suppose it is the best idea…" Putting a lace handkerchief over her eyes, Cyborg and Beast Boy led her away. Raven, on the other hand, continued to stare at the coffin.
Why did you die, Robin? Why?
"Miss Raven."
The empath looked up to see the priest standing on the opposite side.
"Father Duncan." Raven gave a faint nod. Father Duncan did not respond in words, but took the corners of the American flag and folded the emblem into a triangle, as customary.
"I'm so sorry…" he whispered, holding out the flag for Raven to take. "Truly I am."
Raven reached for the flag and gently grabbed hold of it. Bringing it to her chest, she turned around and walked off, ready to die.
Inside of the tower's living room, the four remaining teenagers watched the rain fall outside. The ocean churned as if sharing its condolences. All of the singing birds that usually populated the island no longer sang.
Five long minutes later, Starfire got up from the couch.
"I'm going to bed…" she said quietly, walking towards the door. "I will see you tomorrow."
"Starfire…" said Beast Boy, looking back at the Tamaranian. "Come back, please."
Starfire froze in her footsteps, her head down low. "I just don't want to be with people right now…" she answered, her voice cracking as if on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry."
"Come back, Star," said Raven, not hint of pity in her voice.
The Tamaranian gave in this time around and flew back to the couch. She seated herself next to Raven and stared out of the large window once again, her lips quivering.
"Listen," began Raven once again. "I know you're sad about Robin… We're all sad. But you've got to start living again."
"She's right, Star," said Cyborg, looking at the alien. "Life goes on."
"I know…" responded Starfire. "I just wish he hadn't died… I wish I had made him go to bed."
"Don't blame yourself."
The three looked over at Beast Boy, who shrugged. "What, I'm not allowed to speak?"
The changeling quickly got up off the couch and headed towards the door. He exited the room, and the three sat there in silence.
"I'll go after him," said Raven, following his lead.
"Beast Boy?"
Raven pressed her left ear against the steel door that led to the changeling's room, trying to hear any signs of movement. The door suddenly moved to the left, causing the empath to jerk back her head in a reflex. Beast Boy stood in the doorway, a book in his hand and a worried expression on his face.
"Raven…"
Raven couldn't help but glance from the open book to Beast Boy's extremely glossy eyes. Something was troubling him…
"Beast Boy? What's wrong?"
The changeling thrust his book at Raven, who grabbed it in a split reaction. "Read the first paragraph."
Confused as to what was going on, Raven did as her friend had said.
The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal --the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.
Raven looked up from the book and stared into Beast Boy's emerald eyes. "Beast Boy… Are you trying to say that… this killed Robin?"
"That's what I'm led to believe," said Beast Boy, taking the book back from Raven. "I know it sounds crazy, but…"
"No… No it doesn't. It all makes sense. We found Robin in a pool of his own blood, and it was a lot... But even if it make sense, how could the Red Death come here?"
Silence permeated the air for a long twenty seconds until Beast Boy finally spoke.
"The clock, Raven… You had finished rebuilding the clock that same day."
Immediately, Raven understood what the changeling was trying to prove. She was haunted with images from the past, where she had been sent to that one terrible room, filled with dying people. She had never realized that it was the exact same scene from the tale.
"What are we going to do…?"
"Nothing. Nothing can escape death."
"But it's been two days since we found Robin. Couldn't the Red Death have just come and killed us then?"
Raven put a hand to her chin. "Starfire said that Robin was going to stay up longer, didn't she?"
Beast Boy nodded.
"Then my theory is that you can't die by the Red Death unless you see him face to face. Robin was still awake while we were all asleep, and he saw the Red Death's face. We were all sleeping, and we continued to go to sleep at the same time. No one stayed up later than everyone else."
"So… if we fall asleep before midnight, we should be fine?"
Raven shrugged. "That's the only thing I can think of. Of course, we're going to have to tell the others."
"Should we, though? They'd probably just worry."
"…You're right. We just have to make sure no one goes to bed later than midnight."
Beast Boy nodded his understanding and closed the door to his room, showing confidence in this idea. Raven, on the other hand, wondered if she and her friends were safe or not.
She made her way to the tower's rooftop, thinking about all that had happened.